 |
Can animals be sad? |
by Mya Kagan (whyzz writer) >> more about the author
Emotion Detector
Have you ever seen an animal who looked particularly happy or sad? If you have a pet at home, maybe you’ve noticed changes in his or her behavior when a certain family member goes away or when a good friend comes to visit!
Do you think your pet feels emotions? If so, what are some of the ones you’ve noticed, and how does your pet show them?
In addition to other feelings and emotions (like happiness, thankfulness, anger, grief, and so on), whether or not animals are able to feel sad is something that scientists are still studying.
While some scientists’ research does not support that idea that animals can be sad, many scientists have other research that shows they can! Usually this research has to do with changes in an animal’s behavior which seem like signs of sadness, such as animals not wanting to play or eat, sleeping too much, or making more sounds (like meowing or barking) than usual. Without being able to ask, we can’t know for sure if these things indicate sadness like they often do for us, but it’s possible that animals feel and express their emotions this way. Some kinds of animals, including cats and dogs, are even able to produce tears which might also be linked to sad feelings, or might just be used as a bodily reaction, like when you get dirt in your eye and tear up to wash it away.
Whether or not they’re able to be sad, there are certain ways that animals are known to communicate with us, like a dog who wags his tail or a cat who stands near her food bowl when she’s hungry!
While some scientists’ research does not support that idea that animals can be sad, many scientists have other research that shows they can! Usually this research has to do with changes in an animal’s behavior which seem like signs of sadness, such as animals not wanting to play or eat, sleeping too much, or making more sounds (like meowing or barking) than usual. Without being able to ask, we can’t know for sure if these things indicate sadness like they often do for us, but it’s possible that animals feel and express their emotions this way. Some kinds of animals, including cats and dogs, are even able to produce tears which might also be linked to sad feelings, or might just be used as a bodily reaction, like when you get dirt in your eye and tear up to wash it away.
Whether or not they’re able to be sad, there are certain ways that animals are known to communicate with us, like a dog who wags his tail or a cat who stands near her food bowl when she’s hungry!
Emotion Detector
Have you ever seen an animal who looked particularly happy or sad? If you have a pet at home, maybe you’ve noticed changes in his or her behavior when a certain family member goes away or when a good friend comes to visit!
Do you think your pet feels emotions? If so, what are some of the ones you’ve noticed, and how does your pet show them?
- Flintoff, John-Paul. “Do animals have emotions?” The Sunday Times. 24 Aug. 2008. Times Online. 22 Oct. 2010
- Cook, Denise. “Do Dogs Cry Real Tears?” Pet Talk. 23 Sep. 2007. Parker Paws. 22 Oct. 2010
- Hartwell, Sarah. “Do Cats Have Emotions?” 2004. Messybeast.com. 22 Oct. 2010
- “Can animals really love each other?” Science and Tech. 31 May 2007. The Daily Mail. 22 Oct. 2010